DALLAS (KRLD) - For many medical professionals, the recent surge in measles cases in Texas is uncharted territory. They've never had to deal with the disease during their careers.
And among the 11 confirmed cases across the state so far this year, several have involved adults who were infected with measles. It's not just a disease that affects children.
Dr. Trish Perl is the chief of infectious diseases at UT-Southwestern Medical Center and Parkland Hospital. She said, "The problem when adults get it is we tend to get much sicker. The complications are more common in adults, so we're much more likely to see pneumonia, something called encephalitis, which is an inflammation of the brain, and adults don't tolerate it as well as children. So, in that particular population, it can be even more devastating."
Dr. Perl said younger adults are more likely to have a concern over the measles. She said, "Most people who were born before 1957 had measles, and so, they are immune to the disease. It's really more in the younger adult population that we see it. It really depends on the particular outbreak. We tend to see it in the 20-to-30 year olds who have not been vaccinated."
Experts say most adults who were vaccinated against measles after they were a year old should be fine. Dr. Perl said, "There is quite good immunity that is retained over the years. So those people do not appear to be prone. It's the under-vaccinated or unvaccinated adult who is really at risk of getting measles."
Dr. Perl said the best course of action is to make sure shot records are up to date, "the ideal thing is that you should not only be looking at your measles vaccines, but you should make sure all your vaccines are up-to-date. These diseases do appear to be re-emerging, and part of the reason is that we haven't been paying attention and making sure that our adult population is vaccinated in a way that we've really been paying attention with children."
